Centenary of the ultimate magic trick - sawing a woman in half

I really enjoyed that curious showbusiness celebration last week where a variety of stage magicians marked the centenary of one of the most iconic magic tricks ever sawing a woman in  half.
For it was exactly 100 years ago, on 17th January 1921, that an English magician called Percy Thomas Tibbles first stood on stage at the Finsbury Park Empire and sawed through a wooden box with a female assistant sealed inside.
The illusion was a sensation and would go on to be developed to the point where not only were there two distinct halves of the box but the ‘victim’ could be seen, legs wiggling, several feet apart from her head. Occasionally theatrical blood was employed before the two halves were successfully and painlessly rejoined.
Debbie Magee who was regularly sawn in half by her late husband, the stage and TV magician Paul Daniels, was among those taking part in a special Magic Circle celebration streamed on Facebook.
Intriguingly last week’s media reports of the centenary frequently attempted to keep things gender neutral by referring to the trick as ‘sawing a person in half. The reality is that though male assistants have been used, it is nearly always a woman.
As Magic Circle president Noel Britten pointed out last week putting a woman in the box was part of the trick’s initial appeal…for all the wrong reasons.
Tibbles’ act made its debut at the height of the campaign for women’s suffrage. The very idea of women getting the vote was anathema to a large number of small-minded and bigoted men. They loved the symbolism of putting a woman in a box and cutting her in two.
Tibble attempted to capitalised on the situation. When one of the most militant suffragettes of all, Christabel Pankhurst, placed a newspaper advertisement offering her services  for “remunerative, non-political work” he didn’t hesitate.
He invited her to join his act. She basically told him where he could stick his box and saw.